The present invention relates to environmental control and monitoring of buildings, and more particularly to systems for controlling and monitoring manufacturing, heating, air conditioning, lighting, data processing, security, emergencies and the like, in installations that can include multiple types of existing equipment in distributed as well as local sites.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,649 to Friday, Jr, et al. discloses a system for adapting a generally written HVAC control program to a number of HVAC systems that can have different numbers of fans and compressors in respective chiller units, using separate configuration data for each unit. U.S. Pat. No. 5,385,297 discloses an air distribution system having wireless communication between air distribution controllers and zone temperature sensors of plural control zones, the system including zone lighting controls. U.S. Pat. No. 5,364,024 to Lin discloses a portable temperature and humidity controller having a switched power outlet that is selectively powered in response to a temperature sensor or a humidity sensor. U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,212 to Brimer et al. discloses an adaptive controller for building perimeter heating and cooling systems of different types. U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,078 to Games et al. discloses a computer controlled facility management system for controlling various combinations of air conditioning systems in plural buildings, wherein the systems of each building can vary as to manufacturer, age, and type of system. The above-identified systems of the prior art exhibit a number of disadvantages. For example:
1. They are difficult to expand in that changing technology is likely to render additional compatible components unavailable;
2. They are difficult to maintain in that changing technology is likely to render compatible replacement components unavailable;
3. They are incompatible with many existing and installed control components; and
4. They are difficult and expensive to install, requiring extensive labor of highly skilled technicians.
The control of distributed systems such as building systems has been undertaken in connection with commonly used computer networks and business software. For example, an application known as InTouch(trademark) permits graphical objects or symbols representing distributed control points of a system to be associated by tagnames, thereby facilitating operator-supervised and unattended control of the system using a computer having a network interface to devices containing the control points. Although the InTouch(trademark) application program operates in well known and widely used graphically oriented operating systems (Windows 9x and Windows NT), a manual process of xe2x80x9ctaggingxe2x80x9d must be performed in order to configure the system. Tagging consists of taking each xe2x80x9cpointxe2x80x9d within a site, and manually creating a tagname entry within InTouch(trademark). The tagname data dictionary contains all information about the variables being used in the application. Each entry needs to contain information such as the tagname and the item. The tagname is a name a human would understand whereas an item is something that the system or hardware must understand. Currently the manual process involves using the InTouch(trademark) application screens and a data entry form to create the tagname database. This tagging process is tedious, time-consuming, and is prone to errors.
Thus there is a need for a system for controlling multiple distributed devices having variant technologies and characteristics that overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.
The present invention meets this need by providing a multiple appliance control system including a link module for producing a tagname dictionary transfer file for feeding a database population process using control point parameter data contained in respective area, description, and address fields of a log file, the log file also having a header and additional data fields. In one aspect of the invention, the link module is a computer program including instructions for accessing the area, description, and address fields; instructions for generating for each point a tagname as a concatenation of the area and description fields, and an item comprising contents of the address field; instructions generating an output header; and instructions for storing the tagnames and associated items with the header as the transfer file to be read by the process.
The computer program can further include instructions for defining a graphical interface for receiving operator input. The operator input can include an input and/or output file path definitions.
Preferably the operator input includes a mode selection for directing the database population process, the program further including means for inserting a mode batch instruction into the transfer file in response to the mode selection. The mode selection can include a conditional mode wherein changes to existing database records are conditioned on further operator input, and an unconditional mode wherein database records are stored without regard to previously stored data. Preferably the mode selection further includes a test mode for verifying the tagnames and associated data without changing records of the database.
In another aspect of the invention, a process for controlling appliances of at least one building using the computer program includes the steps of:
(a) connecting the appliances to a computer having an interface for driving control inputs of the appliances and for receiving data from respective control points of the appliances;
(b) forming the log file by storing respective area, description, and address data for the control points;
(c) operating the program for producing and storing the transfer file;
(d) populating a control database using the transfer file; and
(e) controlling the appliances by feeding the control inputs thereof in response to values of the database.
The process can include the further steps of:
(a) in the step of operating the program, receiving an operator selection of mode;
(b) inserting a mode batch instruction in the transfer file; and
(c) conditioning the step of populating in response to the mode batch instruction.
In a further aspect of the invention, a system for controlling appliances of at least one building, each appliance being associated with a local controller and having a control input and at least one control point, includes a central processor computer having an operator interface and an equipment interface; a network connected to the equipment interface and having a plurality of nodes for communicating with each of the appliances; means for storing a log file having respective area, description, and address fields containing corresponding data of the control points; a control program in the computer for feeding the equipment interface to drive the control inputs of the appliances in response to a database; means for populating the database from a tagname dictionary; and a conversion program for producing the tagname dictionary as a transfer file, the program including instructions for accessing the area, description, and address fields of the log file; instructions for generating for each point a tagname as a concatenation of the area and description fields, and an item comprising contents of the address field; and instructions for storing the tagnames and associated items with the header in the transfer file, whereby the system drives the control inputs of the appliances in response to the control point data of the log file.
The means for populating the database can include a batch processing utility, the conversion program further including instructions for defining a graphical interface for receiving operator input, the operator input including a mode selection for directing the database population process, including a conditional mode wherein changes to existing database records are conditioned on further operator input, and an unconditional mode wherein database records are stored without regard to previously stored data; and instructions for inserting a mode batch instruction into the transfer file for directing the batch processing utility in response to the mode selection.